Posts tagged etymology

Origin of the word “Tobacco”

There are several hypotheses for the origin of the word “tobacco“. One says it originated from the Arabic tabbaq (تبغ) through the Castilian tabaco and the Italian tabacco, which were already used in the ninth century as the name of several plants. Other believe that the word “tobacco” comes from the name of the island of Tobago or the region of Tabasco, in Mexico, some of the places where the plant was first found; while…

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Origin of the name “Canada”

There are several theories as to the etymological origin of the word Canada. The Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles Online considers that the etymology of the word Canada is not clearly established and gives an extensive list of various theories that have been presented throughout the ages. One probable source of the name of this country is in the word k’anata, which means a village or a town in the language of the…

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The 12 weirdest words in English

English has some of the strangest words that they’ll never teach you in any English course, nor can you find them in a book or movie. That’s precisely why I wanted to collect and present a dozen of the rarest, weirdest and interesting words to pronounce in the English language. Here they are: Serendipity Meaning: To discover something beautiful by chance, that is when you are not looking for it. In…

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